Atlas

|chapter 6|

If you've never been locked in a strange room for hours upon hours at a time with not a single thing to do but listen to your thoughts ramble on and on, let me be the first to tell you that it's the worst kind of torture.
At least there's a window in here, even though it's locked and I can't see anything out of it because of how dark it is outside. I've never known a night to be so black and soundless as this one.
I've been pacing for at least the past six hours, my fingers idly tracing the outline of the small knife tucked away in my pocket while I stare into the blackness of the room around me. The only thing I can see is the blurry outline of Atlas's bed and the doorway into the bathroom. But besides that, the room is pretty much empty, so I can walk around without worrying about tripping.

My ribs are still sore, but they've healed for the most part and the dull pain actually helps me think.
My ears are attuned to hear any movements outside this room and I've been trying for awhile to tap into some sort of mental communication with this pack so I can hear them in my head. I don't expect to be successful, though, since you have to be recognized as part of the pack for the other wolves to talk with you. Or maybe mental links between pack members don't even exist and I've wasted my time pursuing a myth. The last time I was around other wolves I was too young to remember if there was a way of communicating like that.

I pause in my pacing, lifting my freezing hands to rub my tired face, the temperature of my skin surprising me. That's when I realize how dry my mouth is, my tongue flicking out to drag across my cracked bottom lip. Hopefully they aren't planning on letting me die of thirst, because in that case they shouldn't have locked me in a room with its own bathroom.

I wander toward the white doorway, slipping in and flicking on the light. In an instant I am painfully blinded by a bluish light that illuminates the small room, ruining any night vision I had. I literally can't do anything for several long moments and I simply stand there and blink until my eyes finally adjust, the blurriness clearing so that I can see myself reflected in the oval-shaped mirror in front of me.

My blue eyes drift over my bruised, scraped, thin and tired face, my lips parting in shock. There are dark, heavy circles beneath my sunken eyes and even my hair looks dull. The person I'm staring at looks nothing like myself and suddenly the nausea I'd fought off earlier returns in stronger waves, my whole body trembling.

I spot the toilet to my right and I basically throw myself onto the floor next to it, pushing the seat up and gripping the cold porcelain edges with my shaky hands. The next few seconds of waiting are worse than what follows, my body keeling over while I dry-heave into the toilet bowl. There's nothing in my stomach to be thrown up, but I still suffer, heaving until my throat is burning and my lungs feel squeezed with a lack of air.

Finally it's over and I manage to sit back, brushing my messy hair out of my face so that I can catch my breath. All I really want is a gallon of water, maybe two. Getting unsteadily to my feet, I hold onto the counter and put my face beneath the faucet, drinking large gulps of freezing cold water until I can't hold any more. I even splash some on my ghostly white face, ignoring how drained I look.

Exhaustion clings to my still-healing body as I flick off the bathroom light and step into the pitch black bedroom once again, blindly walking forward until my knees bump against the edge of the Alpha's large bed. Instead of climbing onto it and falling asleep like I really want to, I slide to the floor again, pressing my back against the bed frame and letting my eyes close while I go back to listening. All I want is to hear something, anything, that will give me a clue as to what is going on in his horrible place.

I can almost feel the shape of the knife in my pocket burning against my skin, anxiety attacking me on all sides while I wait, my entire being aching for something to happen. My life seems to drag on in that dark room, another minute of my time ticking away to be lost forever.

I find myself repeating my name over and over in my head, longing for relief from the burden of knowing what I will have to do probably very soon. "Aria, you will do it," I tell myself mentally, trying not to lose my mind. "For your freedom, you will do it."

In the silence my thoughts are so deafening that I almost don't notice the slow footsteps coming down the long hallway outside until they reach the heavy door of Atlas's bedroom.
Fear plummets to my stomach and I feel sick all over again, my heart hammering against my ribs while I hurriedly slump to the floor, curling into a fetal position as if I've been asleep for hours.

I can hear the large door creaking softly as it opens, and then all at once I sense the powerful presence of the wolf I fear the most. His scent seems stronger to me than it was before and it reminds me of pine and musk, an aura that is actually extremely intoxicating.

I can hear him moving through the room, but I can't pinpoint where exactly he is because my eyes are firmly shut and all of my senses seem to be completely jumbled up due to his close proximity. Once I realize that all I can do is wait, I slow my breathing and try to appear as dormant as possible. Staying still is like torture, though, and my entire body feels alive with a mixture of fear and exhilaration as Atlas's footsteps become silent.

There isn't a single sound in the whole room for a long time, and I almost wonder if Atlas has realized that he was a fool to let me live earlier and is leaning over my body this moment, preparing to kill me. Again I find myself pondering over how easy it would be for the Alpha to take my life, which is probably meaningless to him anyway.

I don't dare move, my body frozen in place, yet arranged to appear as if I am in a peaceful sleep. Every single second I expect to feel claws sinking into my throat, Atlas cursing his own destiny while I drown in a pool of blood. But nothing happens. Silence drags on and slowly I become even more terrified than I was before.

I nearly jump out of my own skin when I hear the soft creak of the large bed beside me dipping beneath the Alpha's weight as he settles onto the mattress. My heart is still pounding moments after the room becomes silent again and I'm almost positive that he can hear it.
I don't understand why he is letting me live. I see hatred in his face every time he looks at me, yet he's gone through so much just to make sure I stay here, alive. And now he's making me stay with him in his bedroom all night while he sleeps just a few feet away. It's cruel, really, that he knows how much I hate him and still stays just close enough that my desire for him only intensifies. My only consolation is that he might be feeling the same internal warfare as myself, the intense longing for someone you despise.
I try to turn off my distracting thoughts and work through my next course of action, but it's hard to shut everything out long enough to focus on what I need to do. I listen closely, finally able to hear the steady beat of Atlas's heart, the pace much too quick for him to be asleep yet.
My own heart sinks when I realize that this only means more waiting for me, and hoping that he's not one of those nocturnal people who never sleeps when it's actually night.
So, lying here on the floor, I begin to realize that I am stuck in here with the Alpha and an idiotic plan that my own tired brain thought up in these past uneventful hours. But it's not like I have a lot of options, so I'm gonna have to make the best of the the cards I've been dealt.
I can only hope that my escape might not be so far away after all. All I have to do now is wait.

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Hey! Sorry that not much happened in this chapter but it got pretty long so I decided to end it here. Stay tuned! 💕😈👻